Farms to serve venison to toddlers to combat growth of wild deer population – as caterer says, children should 'experiment' with their food

Nurseries will start serving venison to children in a bid to tackle growing numbers of wild deer – as one caterer says, toddlers should 'experiment' with their food.

Tops Day Nurseries, which oversees 32 farms across Dorset and Hampshire, recently introduced venison to their lunch menus as part of their campaign with Eat Wild.

The UK Game Meat Development Council has come up with five dishes that will be rolled out to other nurseries and schools across the country in the coming months.

Top Days Nurseries explained the new menu for parents on their website website how children receive two venison meals twice every three weeks, which amounts to 3,000 per month.

Pete Ttofis, Catering Manager at Top Daycare Centers, explained how the 4,000 children will taste venison for the first time in meals they already know, such as spaghetti bolognaise.

He said: 'We believe that trying wild foods and experimenting with our food diversity is something we should explore. Food should be fun, exciting, new and delicious!'

'After some research we discovered that the nutritional value of venison was excellent and contained less fat, as much protein and nutrients such as vitamin B12, iron and zinc as our typical domestic meats such as beef, chicken, lamb and pork. .'

Items on the Top Days Nurseries menu include deer spaghetti bolognaise and orzo bake. The wild meat contains a lot of iron, protein and Omega 3, while also containing little fat.

In addition, the daycare centers are also experimenting with game pies, wraps and burgers for children. Game generally contains fewer calories and less saturated fat.

Speak with The timesLouisa Clutterbuck – Chief Executive of Eat Wild – explained how the venison currently comes from two estates in the South Downs, which are overrun with deer.

She said: 'The deer population is out of control so there is absolutely no problem with supply; there is currently an oversupply.'

Up to 2 million wild deer currently live in Britain, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, after a two-year pause in culling during the pandemic.

With no natural enemies, the thriving deer population has negatively impacted forest biodiversity due to excessive foraging.

Items on the Top Days Nurseries menu include deer spaghetti bolognaise (pictured) and orzo bake

Pete Ttofis (right) – Top Day Nurseries Catering Manager – and Leon Challis-Davies from Eat Wild (left) pictured ahead of the rollout of venison meals

According to Eat Wild, Britain's deer population will only continue to grow due to the government's pledge to plant 30,000 hectares of trees every year by 2050.

So the organization decided to turn their attention to the education sector, which has largely never used wild meat in their kitchens before.

The expert added: 'We are trying to create more demand and instead of people seeing game as a restaurant and very high quality meat with a Michelin star, we want it to be served in your local pub and taken home and is cooked as a weeknight meal. .

In addition, the organization is also trying to have game meat delivered to prisons and sports stadiums to tackle the deer population.

In 2021 it was reported that deer cause £45 million in damage to cars every year. The deer also cost farms an average of £20,000 a year by damaging crops.

Currently, 350,000 deer are culled each year, but conservationists reportedly want the population to drop below 1 million to counter their ecological impact.

Leon Challis-Davies, culinary director at Eat Wild, added: 'There are many reasons why it is so important to get wild and sustainable meat on school menus [….]

'But first and foremost, it is so important that we get the younger generation to eat more nutritious and vitamin-rich foods to help them develop.

'Wild meat is not only healthier, but also more sustainable than what we consume from our current meat producing sector. It is also much more flavorful.

“This is a huge win especially for the rural community, and we hope to take this to the next level and introduce wild meat into higher education and beyond.”